COURTNEY RACING AROUND CAMBRIDGE CYCLING FESTIVAL

By Sue Duncan

Courtney is 25 years old, and due to her vision and depth perception, has never mastered a twowheeler bike on her own. However, for the last 15 years she has ridden a trike and while still at school she rode it most days to school and home, two kilometres each way. In high school she started riding it with the school cycle group at the velodrome and became very proficient on the track. Some of the paracycling staff acquired a tandem cycle for her to try and she has not looked back. Courtney is the engine and the pilot is the navigator. Eventually, former Olympic cyclist Fiona Carswell replaced the trainer pilot and they rode regularly mixed in with the other cyclists on a public track racing night. Courtney moved outdoors and started tandem road cycling as well. Four years ago Courtney competed in an 11km race as part of the cycling festival, but then the festival missed a year. By the time it returned Courtney had stopped doing track but had a new road partner, Abigail, and they did weekly rides out of Cambridge. Last year the festival returned and they did the 18km race, she was first woman home and second overall. At the time they only had 18km or 100km. This year they added a 67km race so Courtney and Abigail have been training for that. On February 13, Courtney and her pilot Abigail completed the 67km race that included a hill climb of 628m, in a time of 2hrs 36 mins, much faster than they expected. They placed 102nd out of 186 riders. Now they are considering doing the 103km race next year. Naturally, Courtney’s family is incredibly proud of her. Unfortunately she just misses out on qualifying for paracycling because the DS doesn't count, just her vision, but after years of working with Vision impaired support and the Blind Foundation, she is not considered blind enough for the Paralympics. Go figure.